Foil sheathing for wooden ironing boards



FOIL SHEATHING FOR WOODEN IRONING BOARDS Filed April 2l, 1939 nventor:

UDO K JOHANN SEN.

Gttorneg" Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,234,143 FOIL BREATHING FOR WOODEN IRONING BOAR Application April 21, 1939, Serial No. 269.148

4 Claims.

My invention broadly relates to sheathed ironing tables and the present laundry improvements are more particularly directed to protective imy pervious foil shield or moisture barrier means 5 mounted to underlie a porous presser pad by which such cushioned flat top face of a convenational wooden ironing board shall under prolonged usage, be rendered free from inordinate deterioration by lateral warpage likely to occur because oi' excessive localized moisture absorption by an upturned dry board face when a steamed or sprinkled article is ironed on said pad by a hot sadiron.

'I'he veneerlike refinements herein disclosed are especially applicable to a household ironing appliance provided with the usual metalleg understructure that canbe compactly folded and stored when not in use, and in which its wooden board of about 5/8" to 3A" in thickness is ordinarily fabricated from component strips of high grade lumber that are glued together edgewse in non-plywood fashion. Such simple low cost solid wooden ironing board meets all ordinary requirements and has competitively proven itself eminently fitted as a portable unit in that its inherently light board weight facilitates convenient handling by women; it also possesses ample lateral rigidity and is more economical to fabricate for a given superficial top surface than is an equivalent all metal board. In addition., leg

brackets of sheet metal can easily be amxed beneath such board and inset from the longitudinal board edges to accommodate the pivots for spreadable folding chassis legs. An inherent defect of Wooden boards is that in a normal dry state, such grained fibrous stock characteristically absorbs moisture from a surrounding source v and correspondingly swells in a proportionate relation to a change in its free moisture content,

which in turn tends to seriously cup the upturned board face.

When a hot iron is operatively applied to dampened apparel upheld by a conventional wooden board, a considerable portion of the resulting steam will be driven downwardly and through the underlying porous presser pad to condense upon the top board face and be absorbed thereby. The advent of the so-called steamelectric fiat-iron in which steam is freely ejected through a series of small apertures distributed in the lower nose region of such iron, has materially aggravated the cited condensation.

Such excess moisture will be rather freely absorbed by an initially dry contiguous board in a localized top face region thereof. Until equalized (Ci. 38-137l by uniform permeation the water saturated top face will by swelling, cause the remaining drier or relatively shrunken bottom face region to forcibly stretch beyond its elastic fibre limit in the inherently weak crosswise direction of the wood grain. When frequently repeated, such unequallzed saturation or moisture gradient between the successive layer courses or board strata brings about a corresponding undue elongation or permanent set on part of the more remote drier wood 10 fibers that may progressively cup said top face to an extent that renders it substantially unserviceable for the intended purpose.

In order to correct the cited deiiciency, I protecuvely sheath the entire top board face with l continuous one-piece metallic foil or the like interposed thin non-combustible layer that is kept joinless and wholly impervious to moisture. Any steam condensation trickling through the presser Cil pad is impeded by and deposited upon the up 20 A turned face of said laid foil and hence prevented from being absorbed within the board cells. Tests show that a wooden ironing board so equipped may be kept free from face warpage and that its glued strip joints remain dry without tendency to 25 loosen. My protective foil shield may be suitably affixed to the top face and have the sheath margins crimped into a board edge slit to further assure a non-penetrable, leakproof sheathing.

My applied metallic sheath is also serviceable 30 in reducing fire hazard when an idle hot iron is inadvertently left standing on the board for a protracted period. An imperforate foil of adequate thickness sustains the dead weight of such stationary iron against drop in the event it should 30 strive to burn through a padded wooden ironing board. At the same time, the laid foil veneer or ply seals the scorched wood from free access to fresh air which materially arrests rapid carbonization of the underlying combustible material 40 and generally mitigates the cited fire hazard.

I preferably resort to a veneer ply of so-called metallic foil of annealed aluminum or equivalent material of about 0.005 inch or less in thickness d such as rolling mills commonly list and furnish 4' as distinctive from the term sheets oi which the thickness commonly runs in excess of 0.005 inch. Said light weight foil possesses the quality of being sharply foldable upon itself without fatigue rupture and can be continuously crinkled 50 into crapelike wrinkles. Because of ample inherent pliability of annealed foil, such wrinkles do not become permanently set but may be smoothly rubbed out by finger pressure.

AWhen a thick metal sheet is similarly treated, 55

its surface is likely to suffer a permanent raised deformation or set buckle that does not similarly rub out. Advantage is herein taken of the cited restorative property of wrinkled foil as a selfcompensating expansive agency. However, the trimmed edge region of foil is decidedly frail and readily tearable; to correct such deficiency, opposed marginal regions of my foil shield are reenforcingly bonded and protectively affixed to corresponding edge regions of the underlying board but without need of any 'flapping loose foil ends likely to be rended or otherwise disrupted while a sheathed ironing board is being shipped, demonstrated, or otherwise roughly handled in use.

The object of the present simple innovation is to afford a low-cost protective foil shield of the indicated character adapted to be laid upon the upturned fiat face of a wooden ironing board with opposite marginal foil regions xedly bonded thereto and interposed beneath a presser pad to remedy certain board warpage defects under arduous service conditions.

Embodied herein are also detailed structural features arranged to promote the end in view. Reference is had to the accompanying one sheet of drawings illustrative of alternative embodiments, and in which drawings:

Fig. 1 schematically represents a top view of an upturned ironing board face equipped with my foil shield to include a detachable fabric cover, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section thereof taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring more specifically to Figs. 1 and 2, this exemplification consists of a regular wooden household ironing board l0 preferably of Ponderosa pine or vthe like high grade lumber that is generally built up from component strips glued edgewise as at Il. Such board may or may not be equipped with a supporting understructure including a foldable front ieg and the rear legs I2, The initially fiat upturned face I3 of the board is commonly provided with a presser pad Il that may consist of a relatively thick sheet felt or the like cushioning pad i5, and an inclosing cloth cover I8 of which the gathered hemmed edges may have an elastic band therethrough to facilitate cover attachment around the board margin in the customary manner.

When a dampened garment or work piece is ironed on a conventional padded board, steam is evolved that penetrates the underlying felt and after being condensed is carried into contact with its next adjacent board face I3 and 4the glued Joins Il thereof. A seasoned relatively dry board tends to absorb moisture at a fairly rapid. rate and while initially permeating its upper face region brings about a swelling or counter-shrinkage effect that tensions the fibers of the lower side face region in a cross-grained direction; such internal stress tends ultimately to impart a permanent cup-shaped set to the top face I3.

By extended experimentation, I have found that such defect may be cheaply obviated by the use of a foil shield of impervious material that is laid on said top face and inserted beneath the superimposed presser pad. 4Such backing veneer or foil shield designated Il, may be composed of thinly rolled metallic stock such as imperforate aluminum. copper, stainless steel, or the like noncombustible leafllke foil, preferably having a relatively high melting point in excess of 1000 F. A thin ply of this kind may be tightly cemented along the entire top board face with its sheath margin I8 aiiixedly inturned into an endless trim slit I8 impressed into the board edge by the use of a suitable clenching tool without the need of any retaining filler strip. Such sheath may also be loosely applied to the board face between fixedly retained opposite margins.

After the foil shield has been smoothly bonded in place as in Fig. 2, the board is made ready to have the presser pad I4 applied thereover. When an initially sprinkled garment is ironed into a dry state by a hot sadiron, condensed steam will be carried downwardly through the porous pad I4 and deposited upon the upturned surface of the protective foil il. Being impervious, such interposed lining prevents moisture absorption by the board top face I3 and serves to remedy the cited board warping effects.

An ironing board may be expected to shrink or swell within measureable limits due to anticipated humidity changes without similarly affecting its non-absorbent metallic sheathing. The placing of a hot iron upon padded foil, likewise expands the applied shield and its underlying board to an extent that may stretch a confined foil beyond its elastic limit. All such relative extension with respect to the corresponding ironing board dimensions is herein taken up by well distributed low-height foil corrugations that form of themselves and become widely scattered both crosswise and lengthwise of the board grain when the cold board becomes contracted; such shallow wrinkles or checkerwork profile when reheated under continued ironing operations, tend to flatten out and do not interfere with the proper functioning of the padded foil. A relaf' tively thick sheet used as a veneer bonded to the entire board face, is likely to suffer from pronounced localized buckling into a comparatively few large sized ridges or blisters that becomepermanently set. A heavy metal veneer also tends to shear loose from the board after repeated usage.

My light weight pliable foil barrier may be effectively applied in self-compensating veneer fashion to protect the whole top face against 4 moisture absorption from articles being ironed thereon. Such anti-warping protection allows for all relative temperature or humidity changes without dependence upon any frail loose flap and insures long life without deterioration from localized cracking, peeling or the like aging defects that .may render a non-metallic back priming coating pervious to moisture under high temperature conditions.

For adequate strength against downward loading,V it is preferred to extend the grain length- Wise of the ironing board when made of solid natural Wood. It is emphasized that such Wood possesses hydroscopic qualities to a marked degree and that its coeilicient of linear expansion per degree of temperature is comparatively small when taken lengthwise of its grain but is materially larger in a crosswise direction, The crumpling property of annealed foil is relied upon to collapse into alternate shallow ridges and furrows that fully compensate for all resulting dimensional changes. The corrugations of my moisture excluding shield are positively dragged out by a pullexerted between opposed edge regions of my thin foil rather than having to push a tonguelike expansion flap forwardly beneath a presser pad.

The contemplated sheathed ironing boards are frequently shipped from the factory and marketed devoid of any padding or cover, hence it is preferred to protectively bond the entire frail edgeregion of the foil. A cement that does not rapidly dryout under prolonged heating has been found most suitable for foil securement.

My metallic board sheathing Il possesses an outstanding advantage in that when a red hot iron is set thereon, this cemented backing sheath initially blisters thereunder. The resulting slow wood decomposition without air access, generates gases which create a confined pressure suf-' iiciently high to lift away a localized portion of the bonded foil and bodily raise the iron away from the board Without foil rupture, thus leaving a hollow blister therebetween which automatically checks the carbonization of the underlying wood. Direct contact between the hot iron and board face may be restored by puncturing to vent said blister, whereupon wood carbonization slowly proceeds until after several hours, the underlying wood has been sufficiently charred to leave an air pocket under the hot iron. My foil possesses adequate tensile strength at ironing temperature and hence remains unruptured in spanning relation to the pocket mouth. After the wood has been slowly burned away from under the iron to a considerable distance, the gradually enlarged intervening air or heat insulating space correspondingly slows up the rate of carbonization until ultimately further combustion substantially ceases to leave the hot iron protectively suspended on my single ply sheath. Such backing shield of only a few thousandths inch in thickness serves to materially reduce fire hazard, it being not uncommon for standing hot electric flatirons to burn through an unsheathed conventional board and possibly drop to a linoleum covered kitchen oor with disastrous results.

The pernicious warpage eiects on a solid wooden board are likely to become particularly serious when steam electing irons are resorted to since the quantity of moisture absorbed by the top board face is usually far more profuse than in the case of ironing sprinkled goods and in some instances may keep the felt l saturated in the vicinity of the board face, which accelerates the tendency to'progressively cup the board.

Other advantages inherent in my improved ironing board devices will it is believed, be apparent to those skilled in this art, it being understood that various modiiications in the design thereof may be resorted to, all without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention heretofore described and more particularly dened in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A laundry appliance comprising an upturned initially at faced ironing board oi.' grained natural wood liable to depreciate from progressive cupping when dampened articles are repeatedly ironed on said face, and a compensating shield of impervious metallic foil positively amxed to opposed relatively spreadable board edge regions and spanningly extending therebetween as a moisture barrier that protects the covered board face portion against cupplng, said shield being subject to a non-set wrinkled collapse by a contraction of the board edges and Which Wrinkles become distended whenI said board edges spread apart.

2. A laundry appliance comprising a conventional ilat faced ironing boardfbuilt up from component strips of grained natural wood whose adjacent longitudinal edges are glue joined and have a porous cushioning pad superimposed thereover of which the parting face is liable to become substantially soaked with moisture when dampened articles are ironed upon such pad, and a one-piece compensating shield of imperforate metallic foil interposed between the board face and said pad, the shield being laid and cemented crosswise of the wood grain to overlappingly bridge the respective glued joins as an intercepting veneer to protect said board face against deterioration by moisture absorption from the aforesaid articles and which shield by blistering further serves to protect said board against fire hazard when a stationary hot iron rests thereon for a protracted .time period.

3. A laundy appliance comprising an upturned elongated flat faced ironing board built up from component strips of grained natural wood Whose adjacent longitudinal edges are glue joined and which face is liable to suffer progressive deterioration by transverse warpage when moistened articles are repeatedly ironed on said face at a temperature materially higher than the moisture boilingrpoint, and an imperforate self-compensating shield of annealed metallic foil aflixed to and extending between opposed longitudinal board edge regions in a bridging relationship to the respective glued joins to protect the upturned board face region against warpage by intercepting the steam emanating from such superimposed article, the foil shield in a cold board state being collapsed into scattered wrinkles by contraction 'of the longitudinal board edges and which wrinkies are substantially drawn Ilatwise by expansion of such board edges.

4. A laundry appliance comprising an upturned at faced ironing board of grained natural wood liable to warp by successive swelling and shrinkage when dampened articles are repeatedly ironed on said face, and an imperforate moisture-proofing barrier of inherently pliable foil superimposed in one continuous piece upon said face and having substantially the entire foil perimeter rigidly affixed to the board edge, lthe foil being compensatingly arranged and so applied that any substantial board shrinkage crumples the medial region of such aillxed barrier in its initially unheated state into a series of non-set wrinkles that are laterally spaced and the swelling of which board draws such wrinkles in a ilatwise direction without foil fracture.

UDO K. JOHANNSEN. 

